From TMZ Sports: “L.A. weather was extremely foggy Sunday morning, and law enforcement sources tell us even LAPD air support was grounded because of it. Flight tracker data shows Kobe’s chopper appeared to first encounter weather issues as it was above the L.A. Zoo. It circled that area at least six times at a very low altitude — around 875 feet — perhaps waiting for the fog to clear.

“The pilot eventually headed north along the 118 freeway before turning to the west, and started following above the 101 freeway around Woodland Hills.

“At around 9:40 AM they encountered more weather — as in seriously heavy fog — and the chopper turned south. This was critical, because they turned toward a mountainous area. The pilot suddenly and rapidly climbed from about 1200 feet up to 2000 feet.

“However, moments later — around 9:45 am — they [slammed] into a mountain at 1700 feet. Flight tracker data shows they were flying at about 161 knots,” or 185 mph.

Wiki excerpt: In general aviation, scud running is a practice in which pilots lower their altitude to avoid clouds or instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The goal of scud running is to stay clear of weather to continue flying with visual, rather than instrument, references.”

“The pilot of the Kobe crash chopper was Ara Zobayan, a 20 year flying veteran and a certified flight instructor, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. He had been flying aircraft in Southern California for 20 years, records showed. He worked as a helicopter instructor for Group 3 Aviation in Van Nuys, and the company has posted photos of numerous students he has trained to fly helicopters over the years.”

In short, pilot error caused the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and six others yesterday morning.

In psychological terms, when a super-rich, high-powered celebrity with a Type-A personality wants something done, it’s a very rare subordinate who will tell him/her that achieving this goal will involve dangerous risk and that he/she will therefore decline. Nine out of ten subordinates will put caution aside and do everything in their power to deliver what the celebrity wants. Because doing so involves the least resistance and offers the potential of great reward.

The Irishman is the finest film of the year, and to my mind the most deserving recipient of the Best Picture Oscar. I know this can’t happen but I insist on repeating what I regard as an irrefutable truth. Because I’m shattered by what’s happened to Martin Scorsese‘s film as far as the conversation is concerned. In early December it was the film to beat. Best Film awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, New York Online Film Critics. And then it stopped.

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

Variety‘s Peter Debruge, filed from Park City, on Benh Zeitlin‘s Wendy: “Eight long years after Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin brings that same rust-bottomed sense of magical realism to the legend of Peter Pan, reframing J.M. Barrie’s Victorian classic through the eyes of the eldest Darling.

“Wendy, as the indie-minded, not-quite-family-film is aptly titled, re-envisions its title character as a working-class kiddo raised at a whistle-stop diner, who witnesses one of her young friends disappearing on a passing freight train and a few years later decides to follow it to the end of the line, where runaway urchins don’t age and the Lost Boys live like The Lord of the Flies.

“Although the director’s feral energy and rough-and-tumble aesthetic make an inspired match for a movie about an off-the-grid community doing everything it can to resist outside change (that was essentially the gist of Beasts as well), cinema has hardly stood still since Zeitlin’s last feature.

“What felt so revolutionary in 2012 is no less visionary today, but packs a disappointing sense of familiarity this time around, like tearing open your Christmas presents to find … a huge stack of hand-me-down clothing. Or else, like watching a magic trick performed a second time from a different angle.

“While it’s a positive thing to get a more progressive Peter Pan story — with Peter as a Caribbean child and Wendy as a more proactive protagonist — the movie’s a bit too intense, and more than a little too arty, to suit young audiences.

It’s sounding as if Kobe Bryant‘s helicopter may have slammed into a Calabasas hillside due to heavy fog and poor visibility.

I can’t find the link, but a friend tells me that a pilot who was in Calabasas this morning has told CBS Radio that conditions were very foggy, and that FAA regulations state that pilots aren’t supposed to fly a chopper unless there’s a fair amount of visibility. By this pilot’s estimation there might have been 300 feet of visibility.

Just before the crash the pilot, who used the term “knots” to describe vehicle speed, said he thought the “the helicopter was so low…you could hear it but couldn’t see it…flying too low.”

CBS Radio also interviewed a local resident named Colin Storm, who “was in his living room in Calabasas when he heard what sounded like a low-flying airplane or helicopter,” he said. “Ït was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything. But then we heard some sputtering, and then a boom.”

“A short time later the fog cleared a bit and Storm could see smoke rising from the hillside in front of his home.

Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were aboard when the helicopter crashed. News video of the crash site show a mass of burned, blackened metal along with scattered debris spread across a hillside. Blunt trauma, flames, roasted, awful.

One thing that gave me the willies (aka “heebie-jeebies”) until last night was the terrifying prospect of Parasite winning both the Best Picture and Best International Feature Oscar on the night of Sunday, February 9th.

Well, scenarios of this type can be permanently eradicated if the Academy simply follows the suggestion of HE commenter “JoeS.” Here’s what he posted this morning, to wit:

“One thing the Academy should explore is to adopt a rule that if you are nominated in both Foreign Film and Best Picture, then one of the nominations must be vacated and the next in line should take that nomination slot.

“It would be done in advance with the producers of the film in question, allowing them to choose which nomination they prefer to compete in. The public would never know and that would be that. This would prevent columnists (like Wells) and industry reporters complaining about double-dipping and that sort of thing.

“I suppose the rule should also apply to the Documentary and Animation categories, too. No Doc has been nominated for Best Picture, but a few Animated features have

“It would also have the side benefit of taking away the monumental advantage a Foreign Language film has in the International Category. No film that has been nominated in both has ever lost the Foreign Language category (i.e., Roma, Life Is Beautiful, Amour). The other nominees might as well not bother to campaign.

“Michael Moore has already set a precedent of sorts: He withdrew Fahrenheit 911 from consideration as Documentary Feature and tried to secure a Best Picture nomination. He didn’t get one, and he did it publicly (I would do it privately). I think Cuaron and Roma might have actually won had he done the same last year.”

So 1917 will take the Best Picture Oscar, plus Joaquin Pheonix will win for Best Actor, Renee Zellweger for Best Actress, Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor, Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay going to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood or Parasite, Best Adapted Screenplay possibly going to Greta Gerwig for Little Women (angry female pushback + male guilt vote), 1917‘s Roger Deakins for Best Cinematography and Joker‘s Hildur Guðnadóttir for Best Score.

But you know what might happen? Bong might win for Best Director with everyone wanting to give him a compensation award with the realization that Parasite can’t win Best Picture. A Bong sympathy vote would not surprise me.

Last night HE regular Bob Strauss posted something along the lines of my not “getting” Parasite — that the magical Tinkerbell dust that has sprinkled onto its legions of admirers has somehow missed me (or I missed it).

HE response: The worst kind of empty elitist posturing is when the know-it-all laments or tut-tuts those who, in his-her judgment, don’t “get” the key takeaway or payoff in a film.

Believe me, I get what Parasite is saying. I certainly get the thrust. As would anyone with an IQ over 50 who’s willing to pay attention. It’s not some dense, endlessly fascinating puzzle-box thing.

Bong Joon-ho makes films for Average Popcorn Inhalers and Ramen-Eaters. He’s not some bearded wizard wearing a tall pointed hat or some secretive dispenser of thematic complexity or obscurity that you need a code book to understand.

His energy and passion have always been rooted in the fashioning and delivery of elegant film language and the use of careful, crafty, Swiss-watch-like exposition. High-impact visual conveyance for the whole family. Even the schmoes can understand.

Like peak-level DePalma he has a cheap streak tendency by way of avoiding understatement at all costs. He sees himself as a kind of South Korean DePalma or Hitchcock, and always with an element of pat social-political messaging.

I’m not a sports fan nor a Lakers fanatic, but even I’m upset by the violent death of legendary Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Byant, 41. TMZ Sports is reporting that the NBA legend died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas this morning. Update: TMZ is reporting that Bryant’s 13 year-old daughter Gianna Maria was also killed in the crash.

Excerpt #1: “Kobe was traveling with at least 3 other people [including his daughter Gianna Maria] in his private helicopter when it went down. A fire broke out. Emergency personnel responded, but nobody on board survived. Five people are confirmed dead.”

Excerpt #2: “Kobe has famously used a helicopter to travel for years — dating back to when he played for the Lakers. He was known for commuting from Newport Beach to the Staples Center in his Sikorsky S-76 chopper.”

Excerpt #3: “KB is survived by his wife Vanessa, and three daughters — Natalia and Bianca and their newborn Capri.” Daughter Gianna Maria is reportedly dead also, being one of the five.

TMZ 12:35 pm update: “Kobe’s daughter Gianna Maria Onore — aka GiGi — was also on board the helicopter and died in the crash … reps for Kobe tell TMZ Sports. She was 13. We’re told they were on their way to the Mamba Academy for a basketball practice when the crash occurred. The Academy is in nearby Thousand Oaks.”

Wiki generic: “Kobe Bean Bryant (born 8.23.78) played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His final season was between 2015 and ’16.

“He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team and was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008. Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, ranks fourth on the league’s all-time regular season scoring and fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list. Bryant is the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons.”

“Sometimes there’s God…so quickly!” — Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams‘ A Streetcar Named Desire.

With Sam Mendes having won the top prize at the 72nd DGA Awards, 1917 is back in the saddle as most likely winner of the Best Picture Oscar. The Academy members who’ve been saying “yes, Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite is a very good film but take it easy” are throwing their hats in the air and popping champagne bottles as we speak.

If Bong had won the DGA trophy I would be hyperventilating and breathing into a paper bag.

Plus 1917 dp Roger Deakins has won the ASC award.

In a general election N.Y. Times/Siena poll of Iowa voters Donald Trump not only out-points every Democratic contender, but he beats current Iowa Democratic caucus poll champ Bernie Sanders by six points. He’s a rancid crime-boss fascist facing impeachment, and Iowa bumblefucks prefer him to each and every Democratic contender? What is happening?

From N.Y. Times account of Lev Parnas-supplied phone video of a chat he and President Trump (along with others) had during April 2018 about the purportedly disloyal Marie L. Yovanovitch, who was then ambassador to Kyiv.

The part you want to listen to starts at the 3:35 mark.

Parnas: “The biggest problem there, I think, where we, where you, need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She’s basically walking around telling everybody, ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached, just wait.’”

Trump (following some wallah-wallah): “Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”

Times: “Yovanovitch remained in her job for another year after Mr. Trump’s remarks until she was recalled on the White House’s orders, according to testimony in the impeachment inquiry. It is not clear whether the president changed his mind, forgot about his order or was talked out of dismissing her.”

I sent a draft of “Park City Kool-Aid” to a critic friend earlier today. His response just arrived:

“I think your basic take on the woke critical groupthink here is spot-on. Indiewire is now officially over the edge. It’s not that they’re always wrong; it’s that, as you say, they can no longer be trusted. They’re the Boys and Girls Who Cried Woke.

“I can’t tell you which critics at Sundance haven’t been woke body-snatched. I’m sure that some haven’t been. Variety‘s Peter Debruge is still calling them honestly (he panned the woke-ish Zola, which Eric Kohn loved), and so, I think, is THR‘s David Rooney.

“But yes, the bubble is more hermetic, and more fake, than ever. And it all just helps Trump…”

All I’m hearing from people on the Sundance ’20 beat so far is “duds”,” “wait until Monday or Tuesday”, “nobody’s really flipped for anything yet,” “nothing better than a B” and so on.

The general feeling I’m getting is (a) “we want to be as enthusiastic and attuned as possible to whatever people are seeing or talking about” and/or (b) “we certainly don’t want to post any flatline responses to films that others are digging or getting off on on some level, as that would indicate we don’t get it and therefore might not return to Sundance next year.”

Who can be trusted? Is there anyone up there with a Hollywood Elsewhere-type attitude? Anyone who constantly struggles with his/her negative feelings about wokesters and has to really fight to tap out fair-minded reviews because they don’t want to sound too toxic or dismissive? What critics or columnists can be semi-reliably counted upon to not swim with the school of little fishies? Who’s most likely to write “take it or leave it but this is what I think about a Sundance film that everyone is giving a pass to or flipping out for”?

My basic reaction to Team Indiewire so far is one of absolute distance. I don’t trust a single word they’re saying about any film debuting in Park City. I believe they’re in the tank for just about anything and everything, and if they have a less-than-enthusiastic response they’ll downplay or muffle it as much as possible.

In my mind Indiewire is basically Woke Pravda — an organ of the p.c. commentariat that hands out approval notices based largely on WHAT a movie is saying as opposed to HOW it is saying it.

Tell me I’m misguided or prejudiced against them and that I need to hit reset and flush my head out.

I really hate critics who seem determined to smile all the time and radiate as much positivity as they can at all times, and have rarely if ever posted a mezzo-mezzo review of anything, much less a pan. I’m thinking of one critic in particular who smiles so much she makes my own facial muscles ache. A determination to be relentlessly positive and borderline euphoric about damn near everything is much, much worse than having a generally negative attitude.

All this aside, I remain hopeful, based on the last 25 or 26 years of attending Sundance, that four or five worthwhile films will have emerged by next Tuesday or Wednesday.